Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 3.3% on Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) fell 3.3% during mid-day trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $88.82 and last traded at $89.97. 3,048,043 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 10,513,504 shares. The stock had previously closed at $93.05.

Specifically, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.57, for a total transaction of $1,683,504.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.14, for a total value of $1,623,709.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,623,709.62. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ANET shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $108.00 target price (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com cut Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.79.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.27. The company has a market cap of $108.13 billion, a PE ratio of 38.62, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. As a group, analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after buying an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 218.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,328,869,000 after purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc engages in the development, marketing, and sale of data-driven, client to cloud networking solutions for data center, campus, and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system offered in combination with a set of network applications.